An apparent filibuster in the Kentucky House in the final hour of the General Assembly session prevented a bill to address the heroin epidemic from getting through Tuesday night.

Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, told reporters after midnight early Wednesday morning that he will request the governor call a special session to address the heroin epidemic.

House Republicans debated legislation that dealt with non-profits and limited liability companies for 45 minutes in the final hour of the session, often complaining they didn't get a chance to debate the issue. The amendment had been tacked onto a bill that dealt with the parental rights of rape victims.

"I think it was obvious that the opponents of Senate Bill 5 were using the clock," said Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg. "You'll have to ask them. They were cognizant of the time and they were cognizant of the rules."

"We were trying to make a point that when you don't do things the right way -- when you don't take the right procedural steps -- we're just not going to stand there and limit debate on something that is as important as limited liability companies and how they're treated and formed," Hoover said.

The debate, however, resulted in Senate Bill 5, which dealt with the heroin epidemic, not passing once midnight hit and the session expired.

The bill would have toughened penalties on heroin traffickers while increasing money for the treatment of addicts. It also would have included a needle exchange program where addicts could trade used needles for clean ones to prevent the spread of Hepatitis C and HIV.

Hoover and other Republicans questioned the constitutionality of the provision in the bill that would have allowed prosecutors to charge high-volume heroin traffickers with homicide if someone dies of an overdose.

The needle exchange program also concerned some Republicans who thought it enabled drug use.

"I still had concerns," Hoover said. "I think a lot of folks still had concerns. Whether or not it would have passed, I don't know."

One of the heroin bill's chief sponsors, Rep. John Tilley, D-Hopkinsville, said he thinks the filibuster had more to do with the technical issues regarding the nonprofit legislation than the heroin bill. But he acknowledged that the heroin bill did have opposition in both Houses.

"There were a number of members in both caucuses that did not like this bill," Tilley said.

Tilley said he would attempt to get some of bill in the next session to address the heroin crisis.

"A version of this bill can absolutely come back," he said. "I think we need to look at the entire drug problem."